Northern Tier Sports ReportWILLIAMSPORT — Troy’s Reed Palmer had traveled this road before. The junior needed to get three wins in the consolations at the Northeast Regionals last year to get to states, and did it; now, a year alter, he did the same thing to make the 2025-2026 PIAA Championships.
“It feels amazing,” Palmer said. “You work hard all year just for this moment here, it feels great. I definitely knew I could do it again.”
Palmer (285) opened the day with a fall over Sullivan County’s Carter Reis in the first round of consolations, pinning the opponent he lost to at the North Section Tournament in 4;59.
In the second round of consolations he scored an 8-1 win over Western Wayne’s Paul Borowski to get to the blood round.
“I knew what I needed to do,” Palmer said about the match-up, having faced him back in January at the Flynn Duals.
That set up a blood round match with Central Columbia’s Clayton Whitenight.
After a scoreless first period Whitenight went up 1-0 in the second with an escape.
About 10 seconds into the third period Palmer got himself a reversal to take a 2-1 lead.
Whitenight tied it up with an escape inside 30 seconds, taking the match to overtime.
In sudden victory it was Palmer scoring the win with a takedown with two seconds on the clock.
“Wrestling those big guys you’ve kind of got to feel them out there the first period,” explained Palmer. “Then you’ve got to figure something out. You’ve got to shoot, get a reversal, something.”
Palmer has more of a look of a 215 pounder so he knows he has to wrestle a certain style against the larger heavy weights.
“I have to be more agile and faster,” he said. “I have to be able to move better. It’s huge being in better shape - everyone’s huge.”
He lost the third place match 4-2 to Southern Columbia’s Braylin Smith, giving him a preliminary at the state this weekend.
“I’m going to focus on making it longer than 30 seconds,” he said about his trip to Hershey.
Teammate Garret Parks (107) lost his consolation opener 5-2 to South Williamsport’s Garrett Bacorn.
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PHOTOS BY LANCE LARCOM
